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Your Dopamine Has Been Hijacked By Chronic Inflammation And Instant Rewards

Dopamine is extremely important for everyday function and plays a much larger role in the body than just bonding, motivation, cognition, emotion, well-being, and movement.

Unfortunately, our environment today is very good at manipulating and hijacking our dopamine system.

In this post we will discuss, how/why dopamine is produced, how chronic inflammation affects dopamine, what are some quick fixes for dopamine, and what are some long lasting dopamine builders, as well how to avoid losing dopamine.

A Brief History Of Dopamine

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that was originally synthesized in 1910, then later identified by Peter Holtz (who discovered L-Dopa decarboxylase) and then Hermann Blaschko who discovered dopamine as the precursor for adrenaline and norepinephrine in the catecholamine pathway. RRR

It wasn't until 1952 when the short name dopamine was adopted, as proposed by Henry Dale. R

It is sometimes referred to as the prolactin-inhibiting factor (PIF), prolactin-inhibiting hormone (PIH), or prolactostatin. R

Dopamine has been studied for a long time and should no longer be called a neurotransmitter, but a neuroimmunotransmitter.

This is because is not only commonly associated with the central nervous system and effects such as increased motivation and muscle movement, but dopamine plays a huge role in many other systems such as the immune system, tissues and organs (kidneys, adipose tissue), and vascular system, to name a few. RRR

Who Is Stealing My Dopamine?

Instant Rewards

Probably the manics or schizophrenics.

Seriously, though, anything that creates an instant reward, especially without any effort.

For example, every time we look at a screen (computer, TV, phone, etc) the blue light tells our brain to release dopamine and this acts on the same system as accomplishing a reward in our brain.

We also get dopamine released from likes on Facebook, retweets on Twitter, upvotes on Reddit, etc (oh and by the way, be sure to like this post share it with your friends 😂).

This release of dopamine (specifically in the striatum) reinforces you to go back and play on Facebook again and again and has been studied as one possible root causes of addiction and depression. RR

This is one the most important pathologies of reduced dopamine as seen in Parkinson's Disease (more discussed below), chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and sickness behavior (more discussed below). RR

2. Depression, Motivation, And Energy

For example, one of the ways bright light or sunshine makes us happy is by its ability to increase dopamine in the brain. R

Dopamine also increases motivation and can lower the perceived effort it takes to achieve something. RR

For example, patients that were given levodopa (l-DOPA) to boost dopamine levels made more economic decisions and reported improved happiness. R

As stated before, chronic inflammation (proinflammatory cytokines) reduces the ability for dopamine to be produced, leading to lazy and unwillingness to execute tasks. RR

This is very commonly seen in sickness behavior, where depletion of dopamine and increased inflammatory markers in the basal ganglia and cerebrospinal fluid leads to malaise and reduced reward-behaviors. R

For example, inflammation also in the putamen causes dopamine dysregulation which is a major pathology of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). R

3. The Brain And Central Nervous System

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5442366/

Dopamine can protect the brain in many neuroinflammatory disorders and is well studied in its role in Parkinson's Disease (PD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Dopamine's ability to inhibit muscle movements in PD is a byproduct of its major antioxidant/neurotrophic function on the substantia nigra and striatum. RR

Dopamine also reduces inflammation of central nervous system (CNS) disorders, by its ability to modulate the immune system via the vagus nerve. RR

21. Teeth

Caveats

Dopaminergic supplements (such as amphetamines) may make schizophrenia worse. RR

Increases in dopamine (in NAC) enhances reward-feedback, so it's important to do good habits while increasing dopamine or else it could cause addiction. RR

Too much dopamine can make you hypersexual and compulsive/impulsive. RRR

Dopamine in excess (receptor dysfunction) can also cause mania and psychosis. RR

Dopamine (hypersensitivity) may contribute to headaches and migraines. RR

Dopamine in the infralimbic cortex (IL) or medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC, acting on DRD1/DRD5) may reinstate fear and aversion (must have had the fear before), while DA activation in the amygdala may attribute to fear conditioning. RRRR

Dopamine receptors are found on the skin and in hair follicles and may play a role in inhibiting hair growth. RR

Dopamine may be converted by dopamine beta hydroxylase (DBH) into norephinephrine/adrenaline and increase blood pressure and oxidative stress (which is commonly seen in PD), so inhibiting DBH may be useful. RRR

Dopamine may also cause vitamin B6 deficiency, so supplementing it may help prevent that. R

Devices:

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT, although short term hypoxia reduces, while chronic hypoxia increases it in response to protect the brain) - reduces dopamine release from neurons but protects the neurons RRR

What Decreases Dopamine?

Diet

High Saturated Fat Diet (significantly can reduce DA signaling/functioning, also eating a high fat diet during pregnancy can alter dopamine receptor in offspring) - brown rice (γ-oryzanol) may reverse some problems with a high fat diet on DA RRRR

Physical Inactivity - results from altered dopamine receptors rather than excess body weight, meaning you're not fat because you don't workout/lazy, but that dopamine dysfunction causes you to be lazy and not workout R

Drugs/Chemicals:

Pathways:

Are You Reliant On Dopaminergic Rewards?

It's easy to become addicted to dopaminergics as it affects the reward system.

To counteract this, create normal routines (as described above) and pair dopaminergics with good habits.

Also being able to choose which dopamine receptor and which part of your brain dopamine works on would be nice.

There may also be some pathways we can use to get ourself out of a drug-induced dopamine addiction.

CaMKII

Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (CaMKII) is also necessary for dopamine addition in some drugs, as it phosphorylates the downstream transcription factor cyclic AMP response element binding protein (CREB) and it starts the glutamatergic activation into synaptic plasticity during learning and memory formation. R

Inhibiting CaMKII may be very promising in making dopaminergics less addictive. R

For example, in animal models CaMKII inhibition has been shown to have a protective effect against nicotine and cocaine dependence. RR

MAO-B is mainly found in astrocytes, whereas MAO-A predominates in catecholaminergic neurons like the cells of the SN. R

Dopamine can also be oxidized (bad) by cyclooxygenases, peroxidases, cytochromes, oxidases, and oxygenases (as seen in PSTs and PAPS) R

For example: DA via COX -> prostaglandin H -> dopaminochrome

Can also form other ROS byproducts such as DOPA quinone, dopamine quinone, and 6-hydroxydopamine quinone

Ie lead to neuromelanin in the brain

Most DA circulates as dopamine sulfate (DA-S), which can be de-conjugated to bioactive DA by arylsulfatase A (ARSA). R

For example, nerve-derived DA chiefly maintains plasma DA level, whereas plasma DA consists of only approximately 1% in its free form and the remaining part exiting in an inactive sulfate, and DA in circulation is mainly stored in platelets. R

Hi I'm Jacob!I started MyBioHackbecause after being sick, doctors could no longer help me. I took the approach of healing myself with biohacking, epigenetics, diet, nutrition, supplements, etc, and put it all into this website, so you can use it for your benefit.

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